Critical point...
Minister says testing backlog fixed next week But he warns not going back to normal in May
HEALTH Minister Simon Harris hopes to have the backlog in testing for Covid-19 cleared within a week as a further 1,035 people tested positive – the highest in any single day.
With the expected peak imminent, he revealed yesterday well over half of the 25,000 to 30,000 tests sent to Germany were back, with the remainder due in coming days.
There were 839 new cases – 553 tested in the country and 286 confirmed via tests in Germany – with the total now at 8,928 cases.
The number of Covid-19 cases was updated from 7,054 earlier yesterday to 8,089 after 14,000 samples were returned, 1,035 of them positive.
Of the 33 dead – 19 males and 14 females – 30 victims were in the east, with three in the west of the country.
The median age of yesterday’s reported deaths was 82, with 25 people reported as having underlying health conditions.
Mr Harris warned there would be no return to “normal” with a “blend
of measures” in place beyond May 5.
The minister dismissed the idea of an immunity passport to allow people to return to work, warning Ireland is “at a delicate and critical point”.
His plea came as the National Public Health Emergency Team revealed the 33 deaths, bringing the total to 320.
It also emerged the HSE and the National Virus Reference Lab have secured a contract to obtain enough reagent to complete 900,000 Covid-19 tests.
The components for the first 200,000 test kits have already been delivered to Genomics Medicine Ireland’s laboratory in Cherrywood, South Dublin.
GMI says the lab will operate seven days a week to formulate the reagents, shipping out 3,000 units daily building to 10,000 a day in the coming weeks.
NVRL director Dr Cillian de Gascun said the vital deal would boost testing for Covid-19 to a rate of around 8,000 a day.
Mr Harris said: “It would be brilliant if any country could get to a point where we can test for the virus and see if we had immunity. The truthful answer is we have not found a reliable test to check if someone has had the coronavirus.
“We don’t know how many of us in this country or any country in the world could have gotten this virus.
“It could have been very mild or you might have had it and you did not realise. I think we’re going to see a lot of developments in that space.”
Vetoing any early return to business, he added: “If you want our economy to come back we need to allow the virus to be suppressed as quickly as possible.
“The difficulty for everyone in this country is that we are not going back to normal life in May.
“It is going to be a new normal. I don’t want to worry or upset people but we need to work as a people to get to a better place. These are abnormal things that we are asking
people to do and it sucks and it is challenging.”
“Between 25,000 to 35,000 tests have been sent to Germany. It is our hope and expectation that any backlog will be cleared by next week.” There are now 356 clusters involving 1,626 cases across the country with 1,718 cases hospitalised.
A total of 253 people have been admitted to ICU with the coronavirus and 2,141 cases are associated with health workers.
Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan said: “Today’s figure represents the largest number of new cases reported in a single day since the start of the outbreak.
“This should remind everyone of the importance of hand hygiene, respiratory etiquette and physical distancing.
“These are the actions to suppress this infection. We need to continue with them.”
Northern Ireland recorded its biggest rise in deaths yesterday with 15 more people losing their lives to the virus.
The death toll in the North now stands at 107 with 1,717 positive cases – up by 128 on Friday’s tally. The all island figures stand at 427 deaths and 10,645 cases.
Deputy Garda Commissioner John Twomey, speaking at an Operation Fanacht checkpoint yesterday, said the vast majority of people were sticking to the regulations around non-essential travel.
He added: “If you don’t think of the risk that you pose to other people, that is a real difficulty for An Garda Siochana and for the public.”
These are the actions to suppress this deadly infection
TONY HOLOHAN
ON OVERCOMING PANDEMIC